By John Ogunsemore
A former Director-General of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Prof. Tonnie Iredia, has said Nigerian politicians are too fixated on the next election to the detriment of governance.
Iredia made the assertion as a guest on Arise Television‘s Prime Time programme on Thursday.
The Chancellor of the University of Communication, Benin City described this as an anomaly, and tasked the media to pull them back and set the agenda for them.
Iredia said, “It’s not as if it appears. It’s exactly so, and it’s been on for quite a while, and some of us have been raising the alarm that look in governance, there is a period for electioneering.
“After that, there’s a period for elections; after that, there’s institutionalization of government. After that, there’s governance.
“So rather than focusing on governance, they are always talking about the next election that may be far away. And so the focus that should be on governance is taken away, and the politicians are busy looking for how they can get the next election.
“Now this is where the issue comes in. It is the media whose duty it is to pull them back and say this is not a period for electioneering. This is a period of governance. So we want to see projects. We want to see what you are doing. We want to tell the public what you are doing.
“We don’t want to tell the public what your ambition is. We have passed that stage now.”